Hollywood

September 03, 2015

I thought this Art Deco movie poster for the silent 1926 film So this is Paris was pretty fun. Not only is it a comedy, but it also features lots of Charleston dancing. If you'd like to know more about So this is Paris, you can read a very enthusiastic 1926 New York Times review of it here!

May 11, 2015

This is Pascal from Toulouse. You might remember him swimming, watching the football and of course doing a bit of zen meditation. Well now he's at the Cannes Film festival. It doesn't actually start unit May 13th, but he has already checked into his seaside hotel so he can practise his cocktail banter and decide which bow tie best compliments his chocolate brown eyes. He is a huge film buff and one of his dearest wishes this year at Cannes is to meet Peter Bradshaw, the Guardian Film critic whom he greatly admires. Ever since Peter Bradshaw wrote the infamous and exceptionally entertaining one star review of Nicole Kidman's "Grace of Monaco", Pascal has been a huge fan.

May 07, 2015

This is my latest Nouvelle Vague poster: Jean-Luc Godard's Bande À Part. Apparently, Godard described the film as "Alice in Wonderland meets Franz Kafka". If you haven't seen it, you are in for a treat! It is a must see for film aficionados and is famous for its "minute of silence" scene, the run through the Louvre scene and the famous "Madison dance" café scene. Other bits of trivia about the film are:

1) it is narrated by Jean-Luc Godard himself.

2) the lovely lead actress Anna Karina was Jean-Luc's muse and wife and appeared in several of his films.

3) the three lead characters practiced their dance scene in bars and nightclubs in and around the Latin District.

4) Quentin Tarantino named his production company "A Band Apart" and paid homage to the "Madison dance" sequence when he had John Travolta and Uma Thurman dance together in Pulp Fiction.

5) it was Godard's seventh film.

If you'd like to read more about this iconic film, there is a good essay here you can sink your teeth into.

May 05, 2015

There were masses of "look at me" dresses at the Met Gala Ball this year, but for my money, it was the simple/ classical dresses that stood out. The theme was "China: Through the Looking Glass". I'm not sure if Ivanka Trump's gorgeous Jared Kushner cobalt blue gown was on theme, but it sure looked stunning. Kate Hudson was more on theme with her gold custom made Michael Kors gown and Jennifer Connelly similarly dressed to theme in a Luis Vuitton white floral dress. Finally, Lily Collin's pretty Chanel skirt and top also caught my eye. You can see more Met Gala dresses here and decide which ones you like best. All images from here.

April 07, 2015

To celebrate the start of Mad Men's last ever season being aired this week, Vanity Fair have several Mad Men related articles including one about the clothes of several of the lead characters season by season. As you can imagine, it is really pretty terrific. I have collected together a few of my favourite images of key looks for Betty, Don and Joan below. For more Mad Men clothes each season click here.

March 10, 2015

These stunning photographs are from a sumptuous coffee table book (published in late 2013) called Hollywood in Kodachrome. Prior to he release of Kodachrome in the mid 30s there was really only black and white film, so you can imagine how glorious these images of Hollywood stars looked at the time. Actually, I think they look pretty wonderful now. You can buy the book here and here.

February 23, 2015

Here are my two favourite looks of the 2015 Oscars: Julianne Moore's custom made beaded Chanel dress and Marion Cotillard's couture Dior dress. Karl Largefeld himself designed Julianne's dress that reportedly took 927 hours to make! It's absolutely lovely and was worth every hour in my opinion. And Marion's dress is fun but flattering, and like Julianne's dress, has plenty of texture going on to entertain the eye.